Birth of Norman H Horowitz - .
Nation: USA. Summary: American biologist, at Caltech from 1940, worked at JPL on the Viking Mars lander program..

1920 March 19 - .

Goddard's dreams of space flight - .
Nation: USA. Related Persons: Goddard. Goddard receives a grant of $ 3,500 from Clark University to continue rocket research. In a letter to the fund supervisor, he lays out his advanced concepts - Lox/LH2 liquid rockets, use of solar thermal and ion engines for interplanetary travel, constant-thrust 7.13 week trajectories to Mars. But publicly and practically, he continues his work on cartridge rockets.

1923 March 19 - .

US Navy discontinues contract with Goddard - .
Nation: USA. Related Persons: Goddard. Summary: During the previous three years, at a total cost of $ 2,000, Goddard had developed a rocket-propelled depth charge and anti-ship missile with an armour-piercing warhead. The Navy sees no future potential in the work..

A4 rocket development removed from priority list. - .
Nation: Germany. Related Persons: Hitler. After the military success in Poland, Hitler believes development of expensive 'wonder weapons' are unnecessary to win the war. The A4 and other rocket projects are removed from the priority list, making acquisition of necessary materials and engineers difficult.

Plan for a United States satellite in the International Geophysical Year - .
Nation: USA. Related Persons: Eisenhower. Spacecraft: Vanguard 2. Summary: Dr. Alan T. Waterman of the National Science Foundation presented President Dwight Eisenhower with a plan to implement the United States' portion of the International Geophysical Year satellite experiment..

Mercury tracking agreements with foreign countries - .
Nation: USA. Program: Mercury. Summary: United States-Spanish agreement on Project Mercury tracking station in Canary Islands was announced (1 of 16 similar agreements with other nations)..

1961 March 19 - .

Vostok launch delay - .
Nation: USSR. Related Persons: Gusev; Feoktistov; Yazdovskiy; Karpov; Gagarin; Nelyubov; Titov. Program: Vostok. Flight: Vostok 1. Spacecraft: Vostok. The launch has been delayed to 24-25 March due to problems with L I Gusev's radio system aboard the spacecraft. A meeting of the cosmonauts at 10:00 reviews landing contingency plans that will bring the capsule down on the territory of the USSR. The best chances for such a landing are on orbits 1, 2, and 16, but it is also possible on orbits 4, 5, 6, and 7. A map will be aboard the capsule to show where and when to ignite the TDU retrorocket for each landing opportunity. Feoktistov was a great help in developing this visual aid. For about an hour Kamanin, Korolev, Yazdovskiy, Karpov, and Azbiyevich discuss long-range plans. Korolev is interested in the VVS position that they should be responsible for all military space activities. The reconnaissance satellite version of Vostok is discussed. Korolev says he plans to send a cosmonaut to the moon by 1965.

Afterwards the cosmonauts develop the radio communications plan for the flight. During the 710-second ascent to orbit, and after landing, they are to use the UHF radio. The HF and UHF radios can be used from orbit, but only over the USSR. Plans for filming the cosmonaut in flight are also discussed.

Landing of Voskhod 2 - .
Return Crew: Belyayev; Leonov. Nation: USSR. Related Persons: Korolev; Belyayev; Leonov; Voronin. Program: Voskhod. Flight: Voskhod 2. Spacecraft: Voskhod. On re-entry the primary automatic retrorocket system failed. A manually controlled retrofire was accomplished one orbit later (evidently using the primary engine, not the backup solid rocket retropack on the nose of spacecraft). The service module failed to separate completely, leading to wild gyrations of the joined reentry sphere - service module before connecting wires burned through. Vostok 2 finally landed near Perm in the Ural mountains in heavy forest at 59:34 N 55:28 E on March 19, 1965 9:02 GMT. The crew spent two nights in deep woods, surrounded by wolves. Recovery crews had to chop down trees to clear landing zones for helicopter recovery of the crew, who had to ski to the clearing from the spacecraft. Only some days later could the capsule itself be removed. Additional Details: Landing of Voskhod 2.

State Commission for Launch of DOS#1. - .
Nation: USSR. Related Persons: Mishin. Program: Salyut. Flight: Soyuz 10; Soyuz 11; Soyuz 12 / DOS 1. Spacecraft: Salyut 1. Summary: The VVS insists that the Soyuz 10 crew land in daylight. Mishin says that in order that the crew can land in daylight at the end of the 30-day mission, the spacecraft must be launched at 03:00 at night. Kamanin believes this also to be unsafe..

Second Skylab-B program between considered to fill late 1970's gap between the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project and the Space Shuttle. - .
Nation: USA. Program: Skylab. Flight: Skylab B. Consideration was being given to the feasibility of a second set of Skylab missions (designated Skylab-B) during the interval between the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in 1975 and the start of Space Shuttle operations late in 1979. The inherent worth of a Skylab-B was recognized, but officials were reluctant to recommend it, on the premise that it would be unwise to allow it to delay or displace the development of the Space Shuttle and other programs already included in the FY 1974 budget.

Beijing Space Conference - .
Nation: China. Spacecraft: Shenzhou. Chinese papers at the meeting sketched details of future planned missions. China was likely to begin its manned flights with a single orbit around Earth, and later launch its lunar 'quest'. Existing Chinese launchers had the capability to send scientific devices, but not humans, to the moon -- it could take up to eight years to design a lunar spacecraft. Feasibility studies on trips to the moon and Mars had begun. Participants called for greater international cooperation in space and the lifting of an apparent freeze on China's participation in major joint projects. They resented China's exclusion from the International Space Station.